Shops now pinning all hopes on Eid-ul-Azha
It has been two months since shops have been keeping their doors open to greet shoppers and register some sales.
But the revenue stream was insignificant in the first month as two-thirds of the month fell in the government-declared shutdown, which aimed at reining in the spread of the rogue coronavirus.
The government lifted the restriction on mass movement at the beginning of June to bring the economy back from the verge of collapse, protect incomes and curb job losses. Subsequently, people's mobility increased.
Dhaka now sees a return of traffic jam or long queue of vehicles at signal points. People are trying to adapt to the new normal in these abnormal days amid the rising number of infections and a higher death toll.
Shops also see an improvement in customer turnout.
Even after that, sales have been below the pre-pandemic level as consumer spending has still been mostly limited to essentials.
A section of people does not have enough money to spend because of job and income loss, said Delowar Hossain Babu, general secretary of the Eastern Plaza Shop Owners Association, one of the oldest shopping centres in the capital city.
"We see some sales of mobile handsets and cosmetics. Clothes and footwear sales have been dull. As weddings and other social festivals have almost been put on hold, the sales of saris and other items have been very weak," he added.
Bangladesh has more than two million wholesale and retail shops and Dhaka city is home to 2.4 lakh of them, according to the National Association of Shop Owners of Bangladesh (NASOB) and the Dhaka Metropolitan Shop Owners Association.
Retail and wholesale trades are an important pillar of Bangladesh's $300-billion economy. It accounted for 13.92 per cent of the GDP at 2005-06 prices, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data showed.
"We were the second customer at a footwear store we went to this afternoon," said Apurba Saha, who accompanied his friend yesterday to buy footwear and clothes.
Saha, who also has a stake in a fabric store in Gausia market, said the presence of customers increased but that sales are not enough for many shops even to clear monthly rent, staff salary and other bills.
"It can't be said that a lot has changed. Improvement has been very slow," said Azharul Hoque Azad, managing director of traditional clothing brand Sadakalo, adding that sales in some of the stores are too meagre to even realise electricity bills.
To withstand the crisis, many operators are offering discounts and giving increased thrust on boosting sales online -- an area entrepreneurs have not explored much before the outbreak of the coronavirus.
The majority of consumers are still fond of shopping in a brick-and-mortar store and not too tech-savvy.
"The extent of the crisis is such that it will not be possible to get rid of it. We are increasing our adaptability to make a turnaround," said Khalid Mahmood Khan, a director of Kay Kraft.
Owing to the slump in turnout of shoppers, the local fashion house improved its Facebook page to assist customers and took initiatives to revamp its web portal to equip itself to face the new reality and recover the sales lost from the brick-and-mortar stores.
"Many are still too afraid to leave their houses, let alone go shopping," said Shahrukh Amin of Almira, another fashion brand.
As the unprecedented collapse in sales continues to bleed businesses, space owners expressed generosity, standing by tenants by reducing or waiving part of the rent. Even after that, many retailers are shutting stores or squeezing businesses to sustain.
"We have to trim the size of businesses for a year," said Amin, who accommodated two more brands in his space on Banani-11 to make it a multi-designer store.
Operators of 10-15 per cent shops are closing outlets because of losses in sales and high rent, said NASOB President Md Helal Uddin.
"Businesses have been very bad. None is buying out of impulse," he said.
Now, shop operators are looking at the Eid-ul-Azha festival to regain the losses they have incurred since the outbreak of the coronavirus, which was first reported in the country on March 8.
The second-biggest festival of Muslims is ranked the third-biggest shopping season after Eid-ul-Fitr and Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bangla calendar year.
The deadly virus dashed the dreams of good sales in the first two festival seasons. The coming Eid-ul-Azha remains the last hope for the year.
"We expect sales will increase marking the Eid. We will be able to recover the losses to some extent if the government extends the shopping time by two hours," Helal Uddin said.
Earlier this week, the NASOB appealed to the public administration ministry seeking an extension for shop opening hours to 10:00 am to 9:00 pm from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm now. The association urged the government to grant the extended opening hours from July 20.
Farhana Nazira, an owner of Farhana Fashion, said sales would increase if the government allows them to keep the door open until 9:00 pm ahead of the festival.
The entrepreneur, who has a showroom in Mirpur-1, is aware of the health risk but added the risk of spreading the virus persisted as shops are open until 7:00 pm.
"We will be able to recover some losses if we are allowed to keep stores open for two more hours," she said.
"We will pass lean seasons for a few months after Eid. As a result, many would have to surrender spaces after Eid unless they can make some sales during the festival."
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